Thursday, November 29, 2012

30 Days of Blogging. Day 29, Chopsticks

This Sunday the youth group from the Messianic Church is coming over for a fellowship time, to practice some English, maybe watch a movie and... I'm cooking Chinese for them.

Last time they were here I made Taco's and Fajitas for them. Pretty sure it was their first Mexican food.

This time, I'm feeling Chinese. I've been shopping on and off through the week for ingredients and I'm looking forward to some Sweet & Sour Pork for the sweet tooth's and some Kung Pao Chicken for the adventurous ones.

The kicker for making Chinese food for a bunch of kids is to find Chopsticks!

Ukraine is a funny place.

More times than not I can't find what I'm looking for. That's probably more a reflection of me not wholly grasping the language and not knowing where to find stuff. I mean, in America, I either know where to find whatever I need or at least I know where I can find it.

Sometimes not being able to find what I'm looking for is a function of non-existent customer service here in Ukraine.

For example: Three summers ago I worked at a camp. We had a lawn mower that had been bought locally at a Home Depot knock-off and it's cheap plastic wheels were literally disintegrating and falling off. I went to the store to get new wheels but they didn't sell replacement parts so they gave me the name of a Service Center. The first couple times I went to the Service Center they were closed. Middle of the day. Not a holiday. Closed, just because they guy wasn't there. No apparent office hours. When I did finally luck-up and catch him at the store he didn't have the spare parts. I guess there was some semblance of good customer service though because he ended up taking the wheels off another mower. I'd love to know if he ever sold that mower without the wheels!!

But I digress. My friends Beth and Inga told me where they saw Chopsticks and lo and behold I found them. Today was a win. It doesn't take much to make my day!

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About Me

Once upon a time I was a Student Minister. Before that I was a Wildlife Biologist-type guy. I served 2 churches for 15+ years in Mississippi. I married my best friend and then lost her after 9 years to Cystic Fibrosis. Being an Uncle has been my favorite job to date. My heart is to learn Russian and live in Ukraine and work with students and orphans and volunteers.
I work with International Teams in Ukraine, bringing people together to help the oppressed.